HEALTH PRACTICES BY THE BLAAN IN BARANGAY TINAGACAN GENERAL SANTOS CITY

Tinagacan, one of the Barangay of General Santos City The term Tinagacan has three different accounts of how it got its name. For the Blaan Elders, Tinagacan was them called B'luan. The term refers to "a deep and wide lake" This deep and wide lake refers to the Tinagacan River which was then they called as "Ye el B'luan" In the early time, if there was a heavy downpour, it caused the flooding of the Buayan and Tinagacan Rivers.Barangay Tinagacan is composed of the central Puroks 1, 2 and 3, and the outlying Puroks comprise the total land area of 2,359 hectares or around 4.4% of the total land area of General Santos City. The Distance from General Santos City to Baranggay Tinagacan purok 4 is 12.2 kilometer. Barangay tinagacan is inhabited and dominated by Muslim Maguindanaon, Visayans (Cebuanos and ilonggos).
This research study is projected on providing data and information about the Health practices by the Blaan in Barangay Tinagacan The Blaan acquire their knowledge in some preparation, Healthpractices, and processing through the traditional healing that they inherit from their ancestors and the environment help them develop their knowledge in different health practices. Additionally, the researcher gathered data through interviews conducted between February to May 2019. Target respondents of the study were the Blaan of Barangay Tinagacan. Letter of consent was given to them and was being signed by them as an approval that they agreed to be interviewed. Barangay Tinagacan is consist of mixed tribes but predominantly is the Blaan, they had the greatest opportunities to showcase their identity to the community through their healing practices. There are innovations or changes to some of the traditional health practices of the Blaan in the barangay in terms of its preparation and preservation. Blaan are developing this kind of innovation because they are adopting to its environment and to the availability of the materials.